The World Series of Poker may be dominating poker headlines, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been plenty of online action in the last week. In fact, a number of high-stakes regulars combined with some Online Railbird Report newbies to create a week of surprises.

Perhaps the most notable was “EireAbu’s” performance. He finished as the week’s biggest winner with $542,432 in profit in 17,640 hands spread across 167 sessions. That put him back atop the PokerStars yearly leaderboard.

At the other end of the spectrum, it was a rough week for “mikki696,” who lost $283,118 in 5,119 hands spread across 98 sessions. He was joined in the loser’s column by Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (-$217,825 in 52 sessions/4,232 hands), “glosik” (-$171,974 in 163 sessions/14,634 hands) and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$168,938 in 110 sessions/5,224 hands).

Sahamies Banks Nearly $300,000 on Thursday

On Thursday, May 24, Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies played 700 hands but managed to win big, banking $294,000. About a sixth of that came in a $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha ring game, while $24,000 more came from a heads-up match against Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. With that said, the lion’s share of Sahamies' profits, $105,000 to be exact, came from playing a $100/$200 PLO game that included Ben “Ben86” Tollerene.

In one of the day's biggest hands, “Phisherman36” ($20,000) opened for $700 from the hijack, and Sahamies ($160,712.34) made the call from the button. After “Ligga” ($19,760) came along from the small blind, Tollerene ($37,461.90) opted for a three-bet to $3,740 from the big. All three of the other players made the call and there was four-way action to the flop.

“Ligga” checked, Tollerene fired out $15,195, “Phisherman36” folded, and Sahamies raised to $60,780. After "Ligga" got out of the way, Tollerene called off his remaining $18,526.90 and the cards were turned up:

Showdown

Sahamies

Tollerene

Sahamies flopped a set of sixes and was ahead of Tollerene’s aces. The turn changed nothing and neither did the river, so Sahamies' raked in the $82,559 pot.

Despite losing $112,000 on the day, Tollerene wasn’t the biggest loser. That distinction belonged to “glosik,” who dropped $165,000.

“EireAbu” Back Atop the Yearly Leaderboard

On Sunday, “EireAbu” was back at the $50/$100 PLO tables and played approximately 3,500 hands, winning $125,000 in the process. That pushed him over $2 million in profit for the year, more than any other player on PokerStars.

“EireAbu” may have been the day’s biggest winner, but he wasn’t the only one. “PimpyLimpy” and “bernard-bb” finished with $87,000 and $80,000 respectively, while “patpatman” rounded out the top four with $56,000 in profit.

Speaking of “patpatman," he managed to win one of the day’s biggest post. It happened when action was four-handed and he opened for $300 under the gun. Both the button and small blind folded, then “KRfishONE” ($28,905.79) three-bet to $1,030 from the big. The action didn’t stop there as “patpatman” four-bet to $3,520, “KRfishONE” five-bet to $9,790, “patpatman” six-bet to $33,020 and “KRfishONE” called off his remaining $19,115.79, creating a $57,899 pot.

Showdown

”patpatman”

“KRfishONE”

“KRfishONE” was behind and in need of some help, but the flop wasn’t too promising. The turn gave “patpatman” trip aces and the river gave him a full house and the win.

"EireAbu" kept momentum rolling on Monday and put in another 3,100 hands, winning $202,000, enough to make him the biggest winner for the second consecutive day. Meanwhile, “patpatman” finished right behind him with a $171,000 win.

Big-Time No-Limit Hold’em Highlights Tuesday’s Action

On Tuesday, a game of $200/$400 no-limit hold’em ran for a short time. It began with “patpatman” and Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky but eventually attracted the likes of “mickan1984,”“Suwalski,”“muha84,” and Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby.

In one of the more notable interactions, action was six-handed and “mickan1984” ($77,284.02) limped under the gun. Kibler-Melby ($53,435) then raised to $1,600 on the button, both blinds folded, and “mickan1984” three-bet to $4,400. Kibler-Melby made the call and then called a bet of $8,595 on the flop, bringing about the on the turn. “Mickan1984” immediately moved all-in for $64,289.01 and Kibler-Melby snap-called off his remaining $40,440.

Showdown

Kibler-Melby

“mickan1984”

Kibler-Melby turned top two pair but still needed to dodge a bunch of “mickan1984’s” outs. That’s exactly what Kibler-Melby did when the blanked on the river, giving him the $107,465 pot.

Thanks in part to that pot, Kibler-Melby ended the day as the biggest winner with $118,000. He was followed closely by “muha84” (+$100,000) and “10IsTheYear” ($91,000), who rounded out the top three. On the flip side, “patpatman’s” winning streak came to an end as he finished as the biggest loser after dropping $203,000. “Suwalski” and “mickan1984” were also in the losing column, dropping $80,000 each.

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